Solo Leveling’s Adaptation and the Echoes of Anti-Korean Sentiment and Japanese Imperialism

Content Warning: Imperialism, racism, cultural erasure

Spoilers: For the Solo Leveling manhwa and anime through Jeju Island Arc

This past May, Solo Leveling made anime history as the first adaptation of a Korean work to be nominated and awarded “Anime of the Year” at the annual Crunchyroll Awards. The award is just the latest addition to a growing list of accomplishments for the series. In fact, Solo Leveling was the most-watched anime of 2024 on Crunchyroll after its Season 1 debut and is the platform’s most-rated title at 610,000 reviews with an average of 4.9 stars, according to online news site CBR. Given that non-Japanese works are the exception within the anime industry, this is quite the feat. It signals not only the growing diversity of anime, but the rising cultural and commercial success of Korean media.

This comes as no surprise. In recent decades, global reception of Korean entertainment has experienced a meteoric growth—in music, film, television, and of course, comics. This phenomenon, known as Hallyu or the Korean Wave, is often seen as a source of patriotic pride for Korean people, since cultural exports allow their rather small nation to cultivate a positive global reputation. Solo Leveling is the latest addition to an influx of Korean media to achieve worldwide viewership and acclaim. 

The story follows twenty-four-year-old Sung Jin-woo, whose world is suddenly struck with supernatural invasion. Across the globe, interdimensional portals appear, leading to dangerous monster-filled “Dungeons.” In return, a fraction of the human population known as “Hunters” develops enhanced strength and magical abilities, tasked with defeating the monsters and destroying these portals. Hunters are assigned a rank according to their fixed magical output, ranging from S (the highest) to E (the lowest, to which Sung belongs.) After a near-death experience in a mysterious Dungeon, Sung unlocks the ability to increase his power, or “level up”—an unprecedented feat that allows him to quickly rise through and even beyond the Hunters’ ranks. Solo Leveling was a genre-defining work, popularizing System-based fantasy-action series in the realm of Korean comics (or “webtoons.”)

But despite Solo Leveling originally being published in Korea, the anime itself was produced by Japanese studio A-1 Pictures. This is par for the course for most webtoons-turned-anime, since Japanese studios have far more resources and esteem than their Korean counterparts. Notable examples include Tower of God (Telecom Animation Film, The Answer Studio), The God of High School (MAPPA), and A Returner’s Magic Should be Special (Arvo Animation). Usually, this means the script is written in Japanese and subsequently voiced by an all-Japanese cast. 

When the novel was released in Japan, it removed all references to Korea, and this decision was carried over for Solo Leveling’s original broadcast in Japan. All Korean locations have been changed to Japanese alternatives, with the story taking place in Tokyo instead of Seoul. Additionally, all Korean characters have been given Japanese names: for example, Jin-woo Sung is now Shun Mizushino.

It’s difficult to understand the gravity of this choice without being familiar with the importance of the Korean language and Japan’s attempts to erase it. In 1910, Japan formally began their notorious colonization of Korea. Along with forcing Korean citizens into inhumane working conditions, military conscription, and mass sexual slavery, Japan sought to destroy the Korean language and culture through a process called “Japanization”: renaming locations in Japanese, forcing Koreans to adopt Japanese names, and eventually banning the use of the Korean language entirely. 

The Korean language is a source of pride for its people, and not only because of what it cost to protect it. The written alphabet, Hangul (literally: Korean writing), was invented by King Sejong in the mid-fifteenth century in order to increase literacy rates. As such, it is widely renowned as one of the easiest languages to read. Its widespread implementation, which has continued to last to the present day, is impressive considering that the surrounding East Asian countries used Chinese characters. The Korean language is not only a means of communication, but a representation of the admirable accomplishment of their nation. By eradicating the Korean language, Japan hoped to simultaneously eradicate the Korean culture. This strategy had succeeded in the past, as it had been used to assimilate indigenous Japanese peoples such as the Ainu and Ryukyu peoples into their empire.

The Japanese occupation was finally overthrown in 1945 with the end of World War II, but Korean-Japanese relations remain strained. Much of this is due to the downplay or outright denial of the Japanese occupation by its government. Though the youngest generation in Korea that survived the occupation remains alive today, conservative movements in Japan continue to deny these atrocities. Denialist lobby groups wage “history wars” by misconstruing evidence in order to downplay Japanese war crimes, specifically the sexual enslavement of thousands of Korean women. Several monuments erected in remembrance of these women were widely protested by the Japanese government, in some cases leading to their removal. Both the Japanese government and independent movements have pushed to remove Japanese war crimes from secondary education history textbooks. Alt-right groups in Japan even go so far as to stage Anti-Hallyu protests to boycott the rising popularity of Korean entertainment abroad. Censorship is a means to perpetuate imperialist ideology, and fiction is no exception.

In light of this historical context, the changes made for the Japanese localization of Solo Leveling appear eerily similar to Japanization policies. It’s hard to see the choice to replace the Korean setting and characters with Japanese versions without wondering why that decision was made when the story is inherently Korean at its core.

So, the question remains: why go to such an extent for Solo Leveling? Casting all-Japanese voice actors tends to be the extent of “Japan-washing”, although the argument could be made that Japanese studios having the financial power to adapt Korean stories and change them at will is problematic in itself. Other webtoon characters were permitted to keep their Korean names, so why not in Solo Leveling?

One possible answer lies in the famed Jeju Island Arc, which concluded the second season of Solo Leveling in an epic, stunningly animated finale. This arc is one of the most crucial parts of the story, acknowledged as such by both pre-anime fans and A-1 Pictures themselves. A-1 Pictures created several anime-original scenes throughout the first two seasons to build up even more foreshadowing for this arc than was already present, including the show’s opening scene and the ominous post-credits clip in the Season 1 finale. 

The Jeju Island Arc unsubtly parallels Japan’s historical degradation of Korea. In the original novel and webtoon, Jeju Island has been completely overrun by bloodthirsty mutant ants. The Korean government has repeatedly sent their small team of Hunters to reclaim the island with no success, so the Japanese government assembles a team of domestic Hunters to assist the Korean team in one final attack, since the Japanese Hunters are greater in number and prowess than their Korean counterparts.

However, Japan’s charitable offer turns out to be a ruse. They lead the Korean Hunters into a death trap, hoping to eliminate a powerful neighbor. In Chapter 100, the chairman of the Japanese Hunters Association, Matsumoto Shigeo, explicitly tells his men that their “ultimate goal” is “the annihilation of the South Korean S-Ranks”.With this completed high-level mission under their belt, Japan and its Hunters will finally be recognized on the international stage, able to rival the even stronger Hunters of the Western world. 

The motivations of the Japanese Hunters Association are strikingly similar to those of the Empire of Japan in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Imperial Japanese Army invaded its neighbors — not only Korea; but China, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, and many more — as part of a colonization effort to join the growing empires of the West and eliminate any possible rivals on the Asian continent. In the Solo Leveling webtoon, several Chinese naval officers stationed nearby Jeju Island discuss the possible motivations of the Japanese Hunters, particularly their leader, Goto Ryuji. One commander remarks, “Goto Ryuji [must be] desperately trying to become a National Level Hunter… since all National Level Hunters have cleared an S-Rank Gate before” (Chapter 100). 

Even before their betrayal, the Japanese Hunters bear a condescending attitude toward the Koreans. Upon meeting the Korean Hunters for the first time, Hanekawa, assistant to the Japanese Hunters, remarks, “These Hunters are considered South Korea’s strongest? They’re mediocre at best… Mr. Goto, I’ve been watching your raids from the sidelines for quite some time now. Perhaps this is the reason why I’m no longer impressed…” (Chapter 91). To her surprise, one of the Korean Hunters, Park Jongsoo, understands her words and challenges her in combat. Hanekawa accepts, but because she underestimates Park’s abilities, he quickly defeats her.

Hanekawa’s misjudgement of Park is portrayed as foolish, rash, and hubristic: an echo of the Japanese Hunters’ poor assessment of the Korean Hunters. In the days that follow, Goto Ryuji convinces himself the Korean Hunters are weak, pushing down the gut feeling that warns him of Sung Jin-woo’s impressive strength. After he spars Sung Jin-woo and realizes he is outmatched, he dismisses the feeling, telling himself he’s “become overly oversensitive” (Chapter 94), later boasting that he is “the King” of the Hunters despite knowing deep down that Sung is stronger than him (Chapter 100). His insistence that he is stronger than he really is—and that the Korean Hunters are weaker than they really are—is ultimately his downfall.

The rhetoric that the Japanese Hunters use to belittle the Koreans in Solo Leveling is also reminiscent of the Empire of Japan’s colonialist narratives of Korean inferiority. Both Japanese Imperial officers and their modern-day apologists have employed the racist tactic of painting their victims as primitive and inherently immoral, requiring Japan’s “assistance.” According to the Sankei Shimbun, more than two-thirds (77%) of Japanese people consider South Korea an “untrustworthy” country. On Japanese social media platforms, anti-Korean insults and slurs are centered around the idea that Koreans are naturally stupider and crueller than the Japanese. In 2022, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Eto Seijiro commented on Japanese-Korean relations, saying: “Japan should always be in a leadership position… I think Japan is ranked higher than South Korea in every aspect.” Japan positions itself as the civil, cultured alternative to Korea in these comparisons. Given the prevalence of anti-Korean racism in modern Japanese political and social spheres, it’s easy to imagine Solo Leveling’s author Chugong drawing from lived reality. 

As such, the political implications of Solo Leveling’s Jeju Island Arc were not lost on Japanese publishers, who drastically overhauled this storyline for the Japanese release. Instead of Japan antagonizing Korea on Jeju Island, the fictional De Facto Nation (DFN) antagonizes Japan on the fictional island of Kanan. Ironically, the DFN characters’ names are changed from the original to sound less overtly Japanese: “Goto Ryuji” becomes “Ryu”, “Matsumoto Shigeo” becomes “Geo”, and “Hanekawa” becomes “Wing.” The DFN’s betrayal isn’t premeditated anymore either; they decide to abandon the Japanese Hunters on the island when things sour instead of planning to have them killed from the start of the operation. This particular change dulls the cutting theme at the heart of the Jeju Island Arc: that you can prove colonizers who underestimate you wrong through show of force. They even seem to try to hide this critique of colonial condescension through cuts to the story: Several instances where in the webtoon Goto Ryuji is intimidated by Sung Jin-woo’s strength were cut, so that in the anime it seems more like “Ryu” miscalculated “Mizushino’s” strength rather than stubbornly refusing to acknowledge it. Even the battle between Hanekawa and Park from the webtoon—that brief foreshadowing of the Japanese Hunters’ hubris—was cut in the anime adaptation.

A-1 Pictures also redesigned the Hunters Association offices to eliminate indicators of their respective countries. In the webtoon, Matsumoto’s office is decorated with Japanese ornamentation: a kakejiku (calligraphy scroll) hangs on the seigaiha-patterned wall, and a large-scale Japanese flag stands on its pole behind the kumiko desk. Whenever Matsumoto makes an appearance, this backdrop underscores his national identity. Even Chairman Go of the Korean Hunters Association has a large-scale Korean flag framed behind his desk. But in the Solo Leveling anime, all cultural indicators have been removed from the background designs; both are now generic, unadorned offices. 

In the original Solo Leveling novel and webtoon, the Jeju Island Arc is a powerful story of resistance in the face of a condescending enemy. The Japanese Hunters ultimately fail to kill the Korean Hunters. Sung Jin-woo, who has been constantly belittled and underestimated from the start of the story, rises to save both his country and comrades. It is an authentically Korean, anticolonial story, explicitly about Korea triumphing over a nation that tried and failed to destroy them. Chugong must have intended to allegorize history, or else the Jeju Island Arc would not have had Japan specifically play the villain. It’s clear that A-1 Pictures understood this allegory too, or else they would not have written Korea, and the anti-imperialist themes, out of the arc in an unprecedentedly bold rewrite.

The Korean Hunters persist despite Japan’s attempt to erase them—but in the Japanese version of Solo Leveling, Korea doesn’t exist at all. The absence is deafening. Not only is Korea erased, but Japan is set up to be the victor in their stead. In doing so, they took a story that is a clear allegory for colonized people taking back control from their colonizers and appropriated it into Nationalist propaganda. In a sense, they have colonized Solo Leveling. 

Unfortunately, despite the booming popularity of the anime, I have struggled to find historically informed conversation about this censorship. The few viewers and critics I have found that mention Korean-Japanese relations in context of said censorship only do so in passing, or depict it as a mutual conflict between equal parties rather than the continued aggression of a former colonial power. Why does this happen?

For one, audiences tend to conflate Korean and Japanese media due to the West’s monolithic view of Asian culture, leading to a failure in meaningfully distinguishing between the two. The brutality of Japanese colonization is well-known among Asian peoples and the Asian diaspora, since many of our parents and grandparents are survivors of the occupation. But on the other side of the world, this knowledge may not be so common, despite obvious allegories in Western media that one hopes would at least raise some awareness.

Additionally, the over-idealization of Japanese culture can contribute to an inclination to defend Japan itself. Just as cultural exports can help a country inspire a positive global reputation, they can also distract from negative aspects of their history. A concerning number of Western anime fans are willing to overlook Japanese atrocities to preserve a romanticized image of Japan.

The Korean erasure in the Solo Leveling anime is both an extension of imperialist sentiment as well as a symptom of Japan refusing to acknowledge past atrocities in full. If a country is unable to confront its past, how can they be expected to learn from it? It may be tempting to dismiss Solo Leveling’s political themes due to its nature as entertainment media rather than historical documentation. But given Solo Leveling’s massive global audience, aren’t the implications of this censorship worth investigating?

After all, this certainly wouldn’t be the first reference to the Japanese colonization of Korea in popular contemporary anime. Most famously, Attack on Titan author Isayama Hajime revealed that his character Dot Pixis was based on the infamous Yoshifuru Akiyama, one of the generals directly responsible for atrocities committed in Korea. In 2021, many Korean and even Japanese viewers of Ranking of Kings recognized imperialist-apologist rhetoric in the depiction of Gyakuza: a fictional kingdom that is seen as backwards and inherently cruel, ultimately ungrateful to its more civilized hegemon, Houma. The wording and ideology of Gyakuza’s portrayal bear uncanny resemblance to arguments made in defense of the Japanese colonization of Korea, especially since Houma justifies their forced settlement as a means to “protect” Gyakuza from the conquering gods — a clear metaphor for Western powers.

Critical examination of a work like Solo Leveling is not only ethically responsible, but incredibly rewarding. Sung Jin-woo’s underdog story is far more impactful when put in the context of the Korean people’s perseverance in history. Active engagement with stories — whether it is the resistance of censorship, the investigation of authorial intent, or the exploration of stories’ cultural origins — only enriches our experience. 

Editor’s Note (2/6/26): This article was edited after publication to clarify that character and location names were changed starting with the Japanese release of the Solo Leveling novel.